MPs hit out at watchdog's 'preposterous' plan for an 11 per cent pay rise for them

Senior figures from all three main political parties today condemned a Parliamentary watchdog’s plan to hand MPs an 11 per cent pay rise.

Liberal Democrat Danny Alexander, who is Chief Secretary to the Treasury, branded the proposed £7,600 rise “wholly unacceptable” – but conceded Parliament could not prevent it from going ahead.

Conservative Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said he would refuse the pay rise, and Labour’s Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls described the plans as “preposterous”.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) will unveil its final package of Westminster pay and perks later this week.

Set up to take decisions on remuneration out of the hands of MPs in the wake of the expenses scandal, it is expected to announce a boost to basic salaries to £74,000 from 2015 - 11% higher than at present.

It is expected to try to temper criticism by announcing a tougher-than-expected squeeze on MPs' pensions in a bid to cancel out the £4.6 million cost to the public purse.

"I think it would be wholly inappropriate for MPs to get such a large pay rise at a time when every other public sector worker sees their pay rises capped at one per cent,” Mr Alexander told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.

"I have said in the past that of course, personally, I wouldn't accept it," he added.

All three main party leaders have condemned the increase at a time of national austerity, with both Labour's Ed Miliband and Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg pledged to shun the extra money.

MPs have no way to prevent the rise coming into force after the next general election - unless they change the law set up in the wake of the expenses scandal to stop them setting their own pay.

Research by Ipsa found that two-thirds of MPs believe they are underpaid and the watchdog's chairman Sir Ian Kennedy has insisted politicians' pay must "catch up" after years of being suppressed.

Mr Hammond told Pienaar’s Politics on BBC Radio 5 Live: "So long as I'm the Defence Secretary presiding over a situation where the troops that serve our country so brilliantly are facing a 1% pay rise, I won't be taking a pay increase.

"Whatever the rights and wrongs of whether MPs' pay is too high, too low, comparable to other people, at a time when we are asking people across the public sector - nurses, doctors, teachers - to accept pay restraint, Members of Parliament have to be seen to be leading the way."

Speaking on Sky News Murnaghan programme, Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls added: "How can they possibly be saying we should discuss pay comparability when everybody else is seeing their pay frozen or falling.

"I think it is preposterous we should be having this discussion and as a shadow chancellor, how could I possibly say to Labour MPs at this time, with the economy like this, with the economy under real pressure, there's a cost of living crisis, that they should take a pay rise?"